Getting burnt out?

Andrew Sage Wrote:I have to disagree here. Coding is like riding a bicycle - you never forget how to do it.
You may forget the odd bit of syntax here and there but that is what documentation is there for. If you are any good then you should be able to pick up something years later and continue work with it without any problems.

I dunno... I stopped coding Macromedia Director Lingo a long,long time ago. I very much doubt I could even read the stuff today.

skyhawk Wrote:I picked up World of Warcraft, and it has consumed me (not to mention my total destruction of my relationship status, but that is a more personal and tragic story).

MMORPGs are horrible for motivation, and I would discourage anyone from wasting their time with them, burnout or not. I've played a bunch of them, and have been particularly addicted to two. Like Aaron said, they only provide the illusion of accomplishment, and will cause you to waste many precious hours per day of your life by dangling the carrot of status and power in front of you.

Seriously, what fun is spending 5-6 hours a day punching bees in the face? That's not fun-- that's work. Most MMORPG's require next to no skill or practice (except pseudo-practice in the form of experience levels) there's no story (and no, punching bees in the face doesn't count as "player-driven storyline," dammit) and no end. It's no different than a dead-end job, only instead of getting paid minimum wage, you pay THEM $10 per month.

Sorry for ranting, but I've just seen too many people lose jobs or relationships, or neglect major parts of their life just to increase the numbers of "their" character in some database. Don't waste your time with MMORPGs.

I wouldn't go so far in bashing MMORPG's, personally.
It's just like any other addictive habit. Some people will REALLY get sucked in and it will ruin them. It's good to know what you are getting into, first.

One good thing that World of Warcraft accomplished was breaking many "quests" into small digestible parts that can be taken on an hour to 2 hours at a time. It makes it a bit easier to pull away. Unfortunately, the combat is a bit strategic, especially in groups, and there are skills to learn, AND the art direction is second to none, so all of those factors pull you in for that extra hour, etc. Plus, there is always that monthly-fee feeling of: "I paid for this, I should use it," to really pull you back.

So, don't start one lightly, that's all. I've kept away from all of them seeing family and friends get consumed and then I gave in with WoW. Plus, it's something I do with my wife and I ONLY take on quests when my wife is also playing which naturally keeps me from wasting too much time on it.

I could quit at any time...

To keep this on topic. It's not the type of game you want to use to help motivate you to program, no matter how good it is. Play old classics. Buy some bargain bin retro game and play the old arcade games and atari games, or maybe some original NES games. It's amazing how most modern games just pale in comparison. The old games all really inspire me to make my own and try to capture that magic.

Sadly, there is no 1.0 at this point. It sort of hung out there when Snowball took over. Now both are sort of hanging out while I work out some small stuff to aid in Snowball.

Incidentally, I'd like to make more arcade-like games, but I want to support them with a cross-platform internet high score system, for worldwide competition. That's one thing I need to work out before Snowball can be truly finished, too.

As for using games like that to escape... well, that is one thing they are "good for"... just don't get lost in there. We need you here.

I got sucked into WoW for a few months, and seriously let my code go untouched. I always suffered a rather large hit in sales from the lack of updates and advertising. Although I got to level 40 (ahh shutup). Anyways I find myself wanting to code a lot more again and only find a few hours a week to play when i get bored and need a break from work. Anyways some good some bad. If you handle it well they are good for a short break from work. Just my 2Â¢'s.